Student Reflection – After the Glow: Radium Girls (8.2)

By Kasey Julian

In winter 2017, I was enrolled in Writing and Rhetoric 160 (1060). One of the assignments for this course was to create a visual essay on a topic of our choice. I knew I wanted to do something impactful and the first thing that came to mind was the dial painters from the 1900’s. I learned about this topic in high school when our school’s theater company performed the show Radium Girls by D.W. Gregory. This touching story has followed me and I decided to showcase the terrible and unjust topic in my visual essay. Creating this visual essay has given me a creative outlet at a capacity I have never had before. Being able to incorporate music, text and visuals has been so fulfilling to tell this story and I couldn’t have done it any other way. This essay has challenged me more than just creatively. I have found my voice as a writer in this essay and been able to showcase what I am capable of. Some of the things I struggled with were technology and time management. I learned how to use moviemaker for this project which took some time to adjust to. After many trial and errors I got my baring on moviemaker and began to create my vision. My issue with time management was I had so many ideas and not a lot of time. The video eventually is about 15 minutes long and every slide was paid careful attention to. I had to prioritize and make cuts in order to have my main ideas well supported in the amount of time I was given.

This was a really fun assignment to have and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to present this story that is so close to my heart. I am almost sad to be done working on it, even though it was so much work.